Welcome to your Nightmare
by DemonLordGalm
Summary: The students of Beacon decide to hold a Halloween Party. Everything goes as planned...when a certain uninvited visitor decides to crash the party. Only this visitor is a tad bit on the insane side...FINISHED
1. Prologue

A/N In preparation for Halloween as well as the upcoming premiere of RWBY Volume 3 by Rooster Teeth on Saturday (I'm not a sponsor so I have to wait until Sunday, dammit), and since I had created this character already and were planning on adding him into my Ace Combat story series in the final book, I thought I could turn him into a RWBY character and boom, he turned out pretty good. Plus he's freaking scary as hell, and considering its October and Halloween is gonna be coming up soon I thought…"Why not make a Halloween-type RWBY short story and have this new character of mine pay a visit to Beacon?"

Immediately afterwards though after quickly cobbling together his backstory I thought, "This is going to be one fucked up story." Which is why it is rated M. there will be swearing and all that other stuff that comes when something is M rated. So without further ado, I give you my first ever RWBY influenced story. I hope it comes out at least decent.

* * *

 **Prologue**

The sun started to rise over the horizon, signalling the beginning of a new day over the city of Vale. At Beacon Academy it was a special day however, one the students had been preparing for the entire month.

"Ruby…"

"What…?" asked Ruby groggily as she shifted in her bed turned over, facing the direction of her sister's voice.

"Wake up." said Yang eagerly, Ruby barely opening one eye and nearly leaping out of her bed and yelping in terror at the horrifying Grimm mask she wore.

"Yang! Don't do that!" she said as her sister laughed alongside Blake and Weiss.

"Now that's a good way to start off the day." said Yang as she took off the mask and tossed it aside, Ruby glaring at her for a few seconds before she climbed off her bed.

"That was not funny. What was the reason for that anyways?"

"Don't you remember?" asked Blake after closing one of her books and placing it on her pillow. "It's Halloween. We're having a party here in Ballroom."

Upon registering the words Ruby's spirits instantly skyrocketed and the tiredness in her eyes vanished. In a flash she was dressed in her school uniform and favorite red hood, bursting with excitement.

"Come on let's go, I wanna hurry up and get this day over with!" she said so quickly it was almost incomprehensible.

"Calm down Ruby, it'll be night before you know it." said Weiss with a slight smile.

 **\- Headmaster's Office -**

 **\- 7:00 pm -**

"So you have heard?" asked Ozpin as he took a sip from his mug, sitting comfortably behind his desk while Glynda watched him with her typical stoic gaze.

"Yes, how can I not have. He's wanted across all of the continents for a list of crimes that's too long to explain in a short amount of time." she replied after tapping a few times on her pad.

Ozpin sighed deeply and closed his eyes, swiveling around in his chair and looking out at the setting sun and thinking back to the request Ruby and her friends and proposed to him the day before.

"Are you sure holding the party here will be a good idea considering he's on the loose?"

"And how is this man more dangerous then the Grimm?" countered Ozpin with a glance over his shoulder, Glynda's argument quickly becoming defunct. "Even if this man is as dangerous as the rumors say, I highly doubt he would be smart enough to attack a school that is staffed with Huntsmen and students training to be Huntsmen, many of them already highly skilled as of right now."

He looked back through his office window and took another sip of his coffee. "But still...it doesn't hurt to be cautious. Why don't I stay here and keep an eye on things, alright?"

He turned his chair back around and placed his mug on his desk, Glynda frowning for a few seconds before she finally gave in and sighed. She nod her head once and left the office in silence as the sun finally vanished over the horizon, casting its final goodbye in the form of brilliant red and orange streaks across the sky.

Later on, when darkness finally fell over Vale and the students of Beacon were getting the final preparations done for their Halloween party, a pack of Beowolves came to a halt at the edge of a cliff a little ways off from the academy, glaring at it with their fangs bared. All of a sudden they whirled around at the sound of footsteps, deep feral growls emanating from their throats at the unknown trespasser.

One decided that the trespasser had gotten too close for comfort and leaped at him, the other two Beowolves watching when a yelp resonated out from their leader when a blade was stabbed forcefully through its brain, killing it instantly. As its body deteriorated into black smoke the trespasser made direct eye contact with the two Beowolves, glaring at them intensly before they actually *whimpered and scampered off away from the intruder.

"Mangy beasts...every last one of them." growled the figure as he walked up to the cliff's edge and looked out over the city of Vale, his eyes scanning the rooftops before he finally looked around and spotted Beacon Academy and its glowing tower.

"Ah...the prestigious Beacon Academy, where students train to become Huntsmen and Huntress'. Such beautiful architecture…" he said aloud in awe before a devilish smile overtook his stoic expression. "I wonder how it will look after the halls are stained with blood."

He took out a pocket watch from his vest pocket and flipped it open, looking at the time and waiting for a few moments before snapping it shut and laughing to himself. He did a little skip as he walked along the cliff's edge towards Beacon, using his cane to stabilize his footfalls along the uneven ground as he did.

"Khehe...let the games begin."

* * *

A/N Please don't hate, this is the first time I've written anything associated with RWBY. Mostly, actually all of what I've written has been about Naruto and the video game series Ace Combat. I plan to have the final chapter, and this short story is only going to be 2-3 chapters tops, released on Halloween next Saturday.


	2. Chapter 1

A/N Alright maybe this will turn out okay, I hope.

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

\- Ballroom -

\- 8:25 p.m -

The party was now in full swing, with music blaring through the speakers and everyone present either standing and talking or partaking in the other activities presented.

"Now this is what I call a party!" exclaimed Yang with a grim after adjusting her costume.

Everyone there was required to wear one before coming, and some of them were quite good to be honest. Yang had dressed up like an old story book character from her childhood, Goldilocks. She kept her hair the same however and still wore her weapons around her wrists in their bracelet form, but besides that she looked totally different.

"I know right? This was such a good idea!" said Ruby, who was dressed up as a witch with the inclusion of a pointy hat.

"I have to admit, this turned out really great. It definitely takes my mind off of what happened with Torchwick." said Blake after walking over to the sisters with Weiss.

Weiss had decided the go the simple route like Ruby and had dressed up as a princess, wearing a tiara and some more jewelry around her neck and a different pair of heels. Blake, ironically, had decided to show up to the party dressed as a cat, with painted on whiskers and all. She still wore the bow in her hair however since she still wasn't comfortable with showing her Faunus heritage.

"Where's Jaune and the others?" asked Ruby, glancing around the ballroom a few times.

"They're with Nora at the apple dunking area." replied Weiss with a nod to her left, motioning at the members of Team JNPR gathered around a large bucket cheering on Nora.

"Ah, gotcha."

\- Locker Room -

\- 9:00 p.m -

"And that should do it."

The top hat man smiled deviously as he finished chaining up the entrance to the locker room, stepping back and admiring his handiwork with his arms crossed. He bent down and tugged lightly on the nigh invisible string he had stretched across the ground, making sure it was connected to the small alarm he had hidden in the shadows of a corner.

" _Perfect._ " he thought before briskly turning around and walking down the hallway, making a sharp turn and looking up at the academy's famed tower through a window.

" _Now for Step Two…_ "

He found an exit and proceeded to walk calmly through the campus grounds, keeping constant tabs on everything around him to make sure he was alone and that no one was watching him. When he reached the tower he entered through a door and came to a large clockwork mechanism that ran up throughout the entire tower, spotting an out-of-place elevator shaft leading straight up its center.

Up his office Ozpin was sitting in his chair facing towards the only entrance, looking down at his desk and reading a book he had just started. He reached over and grabbed his mug, taking a sip of the freshly made tea he made earlier.

Suddenly the elevator doors opened and he looked up, seeing the empty space beyond them and narrowing his eyes. A few seconds passed and they stayed open, telling him that someone or something was indeed still inside considering the doors were programmed to shut after a few seconds if they sensed that no one was inside the elevator.

"I know there's someone there. You might as well show yourself." he sighed, speaking loud enough for whomever was inside the elevator to hear.

"Still as vigilant as ever...Headmaster."

Ozpin raised an eyebrow slightly when a man dressed like a gentleman, top hat, cane, monocle and all, seemingly snaked his way out from the elevator's small space and stepped out into the large room, glaring at him.

"If he was shaken by the top hat man's glasgow smile he hid his reaction well, for he merely leaned back in his chair and rested his hands in his lap.

"If I may ask...who are you?" he asked, the top hat man chuckling as he removed his hat and took a bow.

"The name's Chester Cunningham. But I prefer to be called by my professional name…"

"Which would be?"

"Jack the Ripper, at your service." spoke the man with devilish smile.

As he returned his top hat to its original position Ozpin visually tensed up and narrowed his eyes. Jack's smile grew as he leaned on his cane with both hands and fixed his gaze on Ozpin.

"I have a question to ask of you, Headmaster." he questioned, Ozpin leaning forward and resting a hand gingerly on his cane.

"Are you afraid to _die_?"

In a split second Jack had reared back and grabbed three knives from a pouch connected to his belt, throwing them directly at Ozpin's head with pinpoint accuracy and speed. Ozpin was already out of his chair when they embedded their sharpened tips into the headrest, the Headmaster grasping his cane by the handle and running straight at Jack with a blank expression.

Jack laughed maniacally as he brought up his cane to block Ozpin's first strike, the two glaring at eachother for a few seconds.

"Oh I love it when they fight back!" he said gleefully as he pushed back Ozpin with sheer brute force and grasped his cane, pulling part of it back and revealing that it acted as a sheath for a blood red blade attached to the handle.

"I want to see you on the ground in a pool of your own blood!" he roared as he swung at Ozpin's throat, the two using their weapons to block and parry each other's strikes.

Unfortunately Jack was beginning to gain the upper hand with his raw strength and power, and after striking Ozpin's cane with his cane sword, the Headmaster faltered, giving him an opening to punch him right in the gut and knock the wind out of him. As Ozpin doubled over Jack rammed his knee into his chin and sun around, sending the hell of his shoe right into his temple and sending him tumbling across the floor multiple times before slumping against the wall.

Ozpin growled slightly as blood began to trickle down his face from a cut made by the kick, but before he could get up Jack rushed him and stabbed through the shoulder with another one of his knives.

"Sorry Headmaster...but you've been relieved from duty." whispered Jack viciously before he knocked Ozpin out with a single punch.

His head hit the ground and his body went still, Jack's laughter filling up the office as he approached the elevator doors and pulled out a remote detonator.

"Time to turn out the lights." he said before pressing the button, a signal being sent out that reached a bag of explosives placed beside the academy's generators.

They beeped only once before the entire generator room went up in flames and exploded, sending out a devastating shockwave out across the entire campus and creating a large column of fire and smoke.

Jack's smile grew when he spotted the fire and smoke and shortly afterwards all the lights illuminating the campus grounds its entire interior went out, plunging the entire school into darkness.

"Let the hunt begin."


	3. Chapter 2

A/N To be honest, writing this, I've actually begun to have ideas of writing my own RWBY fanfic that goes off on an idea I had for a group of characters that could potentially be put into the storyline. I don't know, I'll have to think about it more.

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

\- Ballroom -

\- 9:05 p.m -

The music cut off and the entire ballroom went dark with the rest of the campus, the students inside immediately becoming aware that something wasn't right.

"What's going on?" asked Jaune after removing the fake vampire teeth from his mouth.

"I don't know. The power wouldn't have just cut out like that." said Pyrrha with a concerned expression as they all gathered in the center of the room.

Ren glanced out the window at the academy's highest tower, the one that game it its namesake, and narrowed his eyes at how even its lights had been extinguished.

"Something's wrong. The entire campus seems to have gone dark, even the tower."

"The entire campus?" asked Weiss in a worried tone.

"Isn't Ozpin still here in his office? He should know what's going on." said Blake before shivering at the sudden temperature drop.

"I already tried calling him. He didn't answer." stated Ruby dejectedly as she stowed away her Scroll.

"What are we gonna do than?" asked Yang while she placed her hands on her hips.

"Well we should at least figure out why the power went out in the first place." suggested Weis as she crossed her arms.

They unanimously agreed and quickly left the ballroom, finding their way outside and making their way through the dark school grounds under the cover of moonlight to where they spotted a rising smoke cloud. They were all shocked upon discovering that the building that was used to house the school's power generators was totally gone, replaced by smoldering remains and scorched metal plates.

"This was no accident. Beacon's generators wouldn't have just, well, blown up." said Jaune after observing the carnage.

"So they were deliberately destroyed?" asked Nora.

Pyrrha nodded as she kneeled down close to what used to be one of the generators and picked up a shattered box surrounded by the tattered and burnt remains of what used to be a bag, finding that there were still some wires inside it.

"Exactly. Someone placed explosives beside them and destroyed the generators, most likely with a remote detonator."

"The White Fang?" asked Ruby, thinking back to the encounter with the Faunus organization a few days earlier.

"No...the White Fang may be terrorists but they're organized. They wouldn't just blatantly attack a Huntsman Academy. Besides, if it was them then there would be foot soldiers everywhere." stated Blake bluntly.

"Then who could've done this?" asked Ruby, her question creating an air of silence and despair over the group.

The truth was they didn't. None of them had any clue as to who, or *what, could've destroyed the generators and rendered the entire school without power and turn it into a ghost town. And there was no telling as to what could happen next.

"We need to find Ozpin." said Yang before taking off for the main building, the other students following close behind.

Little did they know that they were being watched by a figure peeking out from an obscure window just far enough away to not be noticed. He finished twirling a knife around his finger and stowed it away in his back pocket, laughing maliciously as he did.

"Come to me my little children...it's Jack's turn to play." he hummed to himself as he casually walked away, his footfalls and his cane's metal end piece striking the floor the only sound in the hallway.

It took only a few minutes for the students to reach the tower complex and reach the space underneath its still functioning clock-work mechanism. None of them, beside Ruby, had been there before and they were awed at how large the machinery was and that it just above them, high above the clouds was the office of the school's Headmaster.

"The elevator won't be working now since the power was cut so we have to make our way up to Ozpin's office through there." deduced Ruby as she looked up into the expansive metal instruments above them.

They were about to begin their ascent before a dark, evil bout of laughter echoed out from the gears and struck their ears, freezing them right in their tracks.

"Sorry, but the Headmaster won't be able to see you at the moment."

"Who's there?!" demanded Yang, the voice seemingly having come from the very gears and cogs themselves.

"Who, _me_...?" the voice asked innocently, its owner snickering soon after from his concealed position within the shadows.

"Show yourself. And tell us what you did to Ozpin!" said Blake with a growl, the voice's laughter picking up again and ringing in their ears.

It made them all cringe, that incorrigible laughter. It mocked them from the shadows, preying on the fact that they had no idea where it was coming from.

"Oh don't worry, I will...in due time. The game's only just begun." the voice said again, its vile intent sending chills up and down the student's spine.

"That's it." snarled Yang out of anger and irritation before she clenched her fists, her gauntlets activating and taking on their characteristic appearance around her forearms.

At the same time Ruby revealed she had been carrying her scythe, Crescent Rose, under her red hood, which she still had worn over her witch costume, and extended it out, slamming its sharpened tip into the floor and glaring upwards with his sister.

"Oh! Seems we have some feisty ones among the prey." said the voice excitedly, Ruby raising an eyebrow in confusion alongside Yang while some of the others flinched ever so slightly.

"Uh...Prey?" questioned Jaune nervously.

"What do you want? Why did you destroy the school generators?" asked Weiss in an attempt to press the unknown voice for more information.

"That, my dear, is something for me to know and for you to find out very, _very_ soon."

A sharp whistling sound emerged from the shadows and Ruby spun her scythe around in the air, deflecting several knives that were flung directly at her and Yang. Several more emerged from the darkness at different angles and the students without weapons were forced to dodge and evade the attacks while Yang and Ruby covered them with their weapons.

"Everyone go! Get to the locker room and get your weapons! We'll cover your escape!" shouted Yang after punching a knife to the side and shattering it into various metallic fragments.

"Right! Be careful!" said Pyrrha before she led the way for Jaune and the others, leaving Yang and Ruby alone with the unknown assailant.

As soon as they left the knives stopped falling and an eerie silence fell over the two Huntresses, the two lowering their weapons slightly while maintaining a vigilant gaze over their surroundings.

"Be careful Ruby, this guy doesn't mess around it seems." cautioned Yang, Ruby nodding as they inched closer to one another to back each other up if the need arises.

"A brave act, sacrificing yourself so your friends can escape. Yet, however, it was a foolish and idiotic one."

All of a sudden a woosh of air came from the shadows and both Yang and Ruby jumped when the owner of the voice dropped down from above and landed on the floor light as a feather, holding onto his top hat as he did so as to not lose it. As he stood up to his full height the sisters were left paralyzed in fear at his appearance. The pasty white eye, the burn scar, and the horrific Glasgow Smile that stretched from cheek to cheek. He leaned on his cane and glared at the two, smirking at their expressions.

"Excuse me, where are my manners?" said the man before he took off his hat and bowed. "Jack the Ripper. Pleased to meet you, after the fact."

"Jack...the Ripper?" questioned Ruby, Yang clenching her jaw muscles and narrowing his eyes.

"Ruby, don't hold back on this guy. I know who he is, and I can only assume that if he got to Ozpin first...then that he's most likely dead."

"What?! Yang, why are you saying that?"

"This guy is a murderer. Compared to that Torchwick guy you and Blake met with the White Fang...I'd take them over this guy in a heartbeat."

"Seems the blonde one knows of my reputation. It pleases me so to see that my prey knows the predator. Makes the game more excitable." said Jack with a gleeful grin.

"You're a sick person, and we're going to put a stop to you here and now!" growled Yang before she shot her right fist out and fired a red burst from her gauntlet, Jack immediately unsheathing his cane sword and raising it up to block the attack and disperse it.

"Foolish girl, I'm going to enjoy cutting your throat open." snarled Jack before he sprinted at the two at incredible speeds and swung at her neck.

Metal struck metal as his cane sword connected with Ruby's scythe, the two standing at odds against one another before Jack grinned and slipped underneath the massive weapon, swinging out with his fist and uppercutting her straight in the jaw.

"Ruby!" exclaimed Yang before she threw a fist out at Jack's jaw, connecting with bone and jerking his head back harshly.

All of a sudden he pushed back against the punch, turning back around and glaring straight at Yang for a second before he stepped back and did a backflip. He brought his arm around and threw three of his knives at the duo, Ruby deflecting them all away after having recovered from Jack's punch and rushing the murderer.

"Yes, fight back! I relish a good fight!" said Jack in ecstasy as he exchanged blows with Ruby, the two going at it for a few before Yang jumped into the fray and sent explosive shell after shell into the man, visibly doing damage.

Or so it seemed.

Yang vaulted herself over Ruby after she swung out with her scythe at Jack's knees and threw a fist straight at Jack, the man smirking as he held a hand out and took the full force of the blow, his clothes blowing back at the wind produced by the shock wave. Yang gasped at how he barely even flinched, but quickly shook off the hesitation and swung out with her other fist, Jack dropping his cane sword and blocking it with his other hand just like the first.

"Is that all you got girl?!" he snarled before he threw his head out and smashed his forehead straight into hers, knocking her down and allowing him to ram his knee right into her jaw.

She grunted and seemed to float in the air for a few seconds before Jack brought his own foot around and dug his heel into her cheek, sending her flying back at break-neck speeds right into one of the walls of the interior structure, creating a massive crater.

Ruby took her chance and reengaged Jack with her scythe, the blade growing very close to the man several times before he literally _stopped_ it with his bare hand, greatly surprising her.

"You'll have to do better then that!" he said before he kicked her in the gut and backhanded her to the side, giving him an opportunity to retrieve his cane sword.

Before he had a chance to use it, however, Yang was suddenly right on top of him with her eyes glowing bright red and flames seemingly erupting from her hair and engulfing her in a golden like aura. She was too fast for the man and she overwhelmed him, smashing her fists into his jaw and rib cage multiple times before finishing off with a vicious kick that struck Jack right in the jaw and forcibly twisted his head around at least sixty degrees, snapping his neck.

She punched him one last time for good measure in the gut and sent him flying back into a wall just like he had done so to her, his body imbedding itself in a star-shape fashion and rendering him entirely immobile.

"Good one Yang!" said Ruby as she joined her, the two watching as Jack's body hit the floor amidst a pile of dust.

"It's over." said Yang as she calmed down, eyes reverting back to normal and the fire vanishing from her hair.

All of a sudden the same vile laugh emanated out from Jack's seemingly lifeless body as he slowly picked himself up from the ground, his survival from Yang's furious attacks nothing short of a miracle since he had not even bothered using his Aura to protect him.

"That was good...I've never been attacked that brutally since long ago..." he said in the middle of his laughing before he stood back up to his full height and grasped his head with his left hand at the chin.

He reared his arm back around and returned his head to its original position with a loud crack, Ruby and Yang both visibly cringing at the sound of his bones getting realigned.

"How can you still be alive?!" stuttered Ruby, Jack's sneer only exemplified by his glasgow smile.

"What are you?" asked Yang.

Jack reached around and grasped a knife from his pouch, pulling it back up to his face and holding it an inch away from his lips. "Well, If I would have to say…"

He held out his tongue and licked the metal from the tip down the where it met the handle, unnerving the sisters when he continued on down his smile and cut each individual string holding the skin together on both sides.

"I'm a _monster_." he said flatly before he discarded the knife and adjusted the position of his jaw, several clicks resonating out.

"You see, to put it bluntly, I was a very messed up child. I loved talking to myself, and when I was thirteen, well, I got tired of my father and brother and murdered them with a kitchen knife. Very bloody if I do say so myself. My mother wasn't home at the time, so she got lucky and lived." he explained, Ruby gagging slightly at the mere thought.

"I went into the shadows, becoming the man I am today and preferring to go by my new name as I made my reputation as a cold-blooded murderer. Khehe, I became so good at hiding my tracks that I even attended an academy and learned how to harness my skills and become a Huntsman. They never suspected a thing, the fools. After I graduated top of my class, I enlisted the help of an old colleague of mine, a surgeon that was well versed in Cybernetic technology…" he went on, the two girls stepping to the right while went to the left, the three circling eachother and never leaving the other's gaze.

"To increase my combat effectiveness, I had circumstantial amounts of my internal organs and bone structure removed and replaced by highly durable, Dust infused mechanical devices that increased my speed, durability and strength beyond that of a normal Hunter. I don't even have to eat anymore considering I have no stomach!" said Jack before he burst out into laughter, making Yang and Ruby cringe once again.

"But regardless of what, I'm technically not a human anymore. So no matter how many times you beat me down and snap my bones, the ones that I have left...I will survive and I will enjoy the feeling of your blood on my hands!"

In that moment, before he ran at Ruby and Yang once again, he looked closely at the shorter of the two and instantly recognized the red hood that Ruby wore. His eyes whipped over to Yang and recognized her fighting stance, his lips twitching slightly before his visible eye widened and he began to snicker.

"What's so funny?" asked Ruby, Jack's snickering immediately turning into laughter once again as he cupped his face in his hand and shook his head back and forth.

"I can't believe it...it's you two...in the flesh."

"What do you mean?" demanded Yang.

"Your name is Yang, correct? And the one with the scythe is Ruby?" he asked, their silence confirming his suspicions. "Allow me to guess your last names...you two are Yang Xiao Long and Ruby Rose."

Their eyes widened when he correctly guessed their last names and they tensed up, Jack's laughter returning with a force. He wiped a single tear from his eye and calmed down, returning back to his calm composure.

"I must say, it's ironic that I meet the daughters of Taiyang Xiao Long here, after all these years."

"You know our father?" asked Ruby in surprise, Jack sniggering again.

"Know him? I _fought_ him, alongside those irritating teammates of his, Summer Rose and the siblings." said Jack in obvious animosity towards them, both Yang and Ruby growling at how he called their uncle and Ruby's mother irritating.

"You shut your mouth about our parents!" said Yang angrily, Jack brushing aside the threat and continuing on.

"Yes, indeed I fought them all. Quite an exciting one at that. If I remember correctly your mother cut one of my arms off, and I wasn't too happy about that." he said, his mood quickly souring and turning into rage. "So, I decided to pay her back."

He extended his arm out and a cloud of Dust exploded out of his sleeve, swirling around his hand and taking a distinctive shape that Ruby knew quite well. In his hand formed a wicked looking scythe and he swung its red blade around before holding it out to his side and glaring right at Ruby.

"With this blade, before their very eyes…" he started, both Ruby's and Yang's widening as he smiled evilly at them.

Silence dominated the air between them, Ruby's heart nearly beating out her chest when her worst fears became realized right in front of her.

" _I killed Summer Rose._ " he finally said, Yang blinking several times out of shock before she looked over at her sister.

All she saw was the tears.

In a flash Ruby had taken off and ran right at her mother's killer, holding her scythe back and aiming straight for his head as the tears of 15 years of untold pain of not having a mother streamed down her cheeks. Jack laughed as she swung at him ruthlessly, their weapons clanging with every blow.

"Yes...more! _Suffer_! Give me more!" said Jack insanely as he parried Ruby's strike and grasped her scythe, stopping her dead in her tracks and allowing him to stare directly into her eyes.

"Welcome to your nightmare." he said before he grabbed a hold of Ruby's chin and brought her in close, so close their eyes were inches apart.

Her eyes widened and they grew a shade darker, Jack smirking before he tossed her back with all his might, her body hitting the floor multiple times before she came to a stop several yards behind Yang.

"Ruby!" she yelled out of worry for her sister when she slowly picked herself up and sat on her knees, gripping her head with both hands.

Her limbs shook madly as fear, terror and sadness overtook her, taking control of her mind and rendering her incapable of speaking or doing anything.

"That lump in your throat? It's panic. Think on what will happen next." said Jack as he watched Ruby hunch over and attempt to hide herself away from the crushing reality she was just presented with.

"First, the pupils dilate, muscles tighten, hysteria replaces rationality, and then…"

All at once, Ruby let loose all of the emotions swimming about inside her in one, paralyzing, heart-shattering, mind-numbing scream that echoed and bounced off the walls of the tower complex, the tears never ceasing to run.

"The mind shatters." finished Jack evilly as Ruby screamed again and again, Yang running over to her sister and kneeling down beside her to try and comfort her to no avail.

In a split second decision she quickly grabbed Crescent Rose and collapsed it down to its easier to carry compact mode, attached it to her belt, grabbed Ruby with both arms and bolted as Jack's laughter followed them out.

"Run! _Run_! No matter where you run or where you hide, I will find you! And when I do, your body will be lying motionless on the ground, drowning in a pool of your own blood! Khehahahahaha!"


	4. Chapter 3

A/N Well Jack is just an asshole isn't he? I highly enjoyed thinking him up from the dark recesses of my mind...and the Villains Wiki. This will be the final entry into this short story, and whatever happens here and my mood about it will determine if I continue this on into a full-fledged story. Leave a review and tell me what you think and Happy Halloween! And don't let Jack kil-oh nevermind. He's right behind you. Shit.

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

She ran. She didn't know if Jack was still on her tail or not, but it didn't matter. Getting Ruby to safety and making sure she's safe took top priority over anything else.

"Where _are_ you?! Just accept your death!"

" _Man this guy is persistent…_ " thought Yang as she rounded a corner and spotted a lecture hall up ahead.

She flung the door open and ran inside, quickly shutting it behind her and taking Ruby with her as she hid behind the teacher's desk and prayed to god. Ruby was still silently sobbing and Yang quickly covered her mouth to muffle the noise when Jack entered the room, scythe in hand and an insane smile plastered on his face.

He scanned the room, looking from one end to the other, narrowing his eyes and clicking his teeth together in frustration. He finally turned around and left after a tense few seconds of silence, Yang slowly creeping back up the steps leading to the door and locking it.

"Whew…" she sighed in relief before she returned to Ruby's side.

By now she was curled up into the fetal position and wasn't responding to anything she would say. Whatever Jack had done to her, it had reduced her from her normally optimistic and bubbly personality to a sad, empty shell of her former self.

"Ruby, come on, talk to me." pleaded Yang as she lightly shook her shoulder.

When she didn't respond she cursed Jack under her breath and walked a few feet away to cross her arms and think. The man, if he even _was_ a man, they just faced had managed to survive an all out assault that would've possibly killed him, yet he stood right back up and acted like it never happened. He didn't even shed any blood.

" _Does he even have any blood left?_ " she thought with a shudder.

Suddenly she heard Ruby's Scroll go off and she quickly retrieved it, gasping when she read the caller I.D and answering it.

"Ozpin?"

"Ruby? Is that you?"

"No, this is Yang, her sister. Where are you, what happened?" asked Yang, Ozpin gathering his breath on the other side.

"I'm fine, just a minor injury is all." he replied as he finished patching up the stab wound in his shoulder. "And I'm up in my office. What of you?"

"We…" started Yang, glancing back at Ruby and biting her lip. "We were hit pretty hard."

"Are you injured?" asked Ozpin, concerned for the wellbeing.

"Just a few cuts and bruises, but my Aura took most of the damage thankfully."

"And Ruby…?"

"She's fine...physically that is. That guy, Jack, he...he was the one that killed her Mom." said Yang quietly so as to not have Ruby overhear her. "And then...he did something to her, possibly a Semblance or something. He stared into her eyes for a few seconds and she totally broke down afterwards."

Ozpin grew silent, knowing what Yang meant by break down. He had been awake throughout the entire ordeal and had heard the scream.

"I'm terribly sorry...it must've been awful for you as her sister to witness. How is she now?"

Yang looked back at Ruby to see if she had moved or recovered whatsoever after they arrived at the lecture hall, but still she sat there, on the floor, with her knees tucked up to her chest and her hood cast over her lowered head. It pained her to see her in such a state, and she couldn't even do anything to help her.

"She won't talk. It's like she just shut down." she said, Ozpin sighing as he shuffled over to his office window and looked out over the darkened campus, spotting a faint light in the distance.

"Okay, then listen to me closely Yang. You need to go help your friends. Where are they?"

"They went to the locker room to get their weapons. Ruby and I were the only ones who had ours with us."

"You need to help them _now_. Jack is going to be hunting them down one by one, and if he was able to subdue you and your sister and walk away unscathed...they're going to be in trouble." said Ozpin urgently, Yang's expression turning grim at the truth behind his words.

"Right. But what about Ruby?" she asked.

"I have a plan for that." stated Ozpin plainly as he walked up to his desk and set down his Scroll to free his hand and retrieved a pen and a piece of paper. "Tell me exactly where you are right now."

Yang jogged up to the door and unlocked it, peering out and making sure the coast was clear before stepping out to observe her surroundings. She scanned the hallway for any visible markers and finally found the plaque beside the door containing its room number and location.

"We're in Lecture Hall A12 in the main building."

Ozpin quickly jotted down the room number and set the pen down, smirking a little at how well his plan was coming together.

"Good, good. Is it safe for Ruby to stay there?"

"Jack checked her a few seconds before you called, so yeah." replied Yang.

"Alright. You need to get to your friends now. Ruby will be safe there for the time being."

"What are you planning?" asked Yang, still unsure about leaving her sister alone.

"Just trust me. She'll be fine. the lives of your friends are hanging in the balance Yang. You must hurry." said Ozpin before he hung up, Yang sighing as she lowered Ruby' Scroll.

She walked back over to Ruby and crouched down beside her, placing a hand gingerly on her head.

"I'll be back soon sis. Be safe." she whispered before standing up and running up to the door, looking back one list time and leaving.

Back up in his office Ozpin had grabbed the piece of paper and held it one hand, using the other to speed-dial one of his more recently called contacts with his own Scroll. He held it up to his ear as the dial-tone rang, his eyes once again set upon the light in the distance.

"Listen, there's no time to explain. Just come quickly and go straight to Lecture Hall A12 here in the main building. Ruby needs your help."

"I'm on my way."

 **\- Locker Room -**

 **\- 9:21 p.m -**

"He must've done this before he turned off the power. And since our locker's rocket function draws on that to activate, we can't launch them." said Blake as she frowned upon discovering that the entrance to the locker room was chained shut.

"What are we going to do now? Without our weapons we don't stand a chance against that Jack guy." said Jaune, the group now at a loss at what to do.

"Oh thank god I found you guys!"

"Yang!" exclaimed Weiss when she ran up to them wiped sweat off her brow knowing that they were okay...for now.

"Where's Ruby?" asked Nora when she noticed she wasn't with Yang.

"She's fine right now. I talked with Ozpin a few minutes ago and he has a plan. Right now we need to be ready for Jack when he shows himself." said Yang as she approached the chained doors and smashed her foot into them, breaking them open and allowing entrance into the locker room.

Once she had pried open all of the electronically locked lockers, they all walked out with weapons in hand and feeling slightly more confident now.

"What's the plan?" asked Pyrrha as she gripped her shield tightly and transformed Miló into its xiphos form.

Before Yang could answer that all grew silent when the ear-piercing sound of metal getting dragged against the ground reached their eardrums from down the hall. They all tensed as from the darkness emerged Jack himself, his glasgow smile seemingly wider then before as he approached them whilst dragging his scythe's blade across the tiled ground.

"Greetings and salutations little pests." he said alongside a chuckle as he swung his scythe around and rested it on his shoulder.

"He wields a scythe too? Great…" muttered Jaune as he raised his shield up, Yang stepping forward and loading in a pair of shells into her gauntlets.

"You're gonna pay for what you did to Ruby." she growled, Jack laughing viciously at her threat.

"All I did was show her the true meaning of despair. Besides...that was payback for what her mother did to me. And now that I have you all here...it's time to have some _fun_!" he said, Weiss and Blake glancing at Yang at his mentioning of Ruby and her mother.

"What happened while you were fighting him?" asked Blake, Yang clenching her jaw muscles and narrowing her eyes.

"This guy...not only is he a ruthless murderer, but he was the one who killed Ruby's mother." she said, Blake and the other students gasping. "So yes, this is beyond personal between me and him. If at all possible, let me be the one who snaps this guy's neck."

"My, you're more similar to me then you think girl. Well than, let's see if you can back up that statement!" bellowed Jack before he swung his scythe through the air, disconnecting its lengthy metal shaft into various connected segments and throwing the blade out towards them like a kama.

Pyrrha stepped forward and blocked the attack with her shield, allowing Nora to fire off a couple of shells from Magnhild in its grenade launcher form over her shoulder and hit Jack, encompassing him in a large cloud of pink smoke that hid them from view.

He swept his hand through the cloud after withdrawing his scythe and growled as Weiss and Blake charged him with weapons drawn. They attacked him from both sides, Jack swinging at Blake first and growing frustrated when she replaced herself with a shadow clone and proceeded to slash at her back with Gambol Shroud. He payed no attention to her and instead focused on Weiss, who was aiming with to stab at his left shoulder with Myrtenaster.

"Not so fast!" he smirked as he kicked out at her, his attack narrowing missing her as she spun through the air and connected the tip of her blade with his cheek, making a small cut in his skin. Blake meanwhile had drawn flanked around his other side and was going in to knock his feet out from under him with her weapon's sheath.

He leaped up into the air and planted his feet firmly on the ceiling, his sudden burst of agility surprising her. As he was coming back down with a downward slash with his weapon Nora and Pyrrha appeared out of nowhere, Pyrrha hitting him in the gut with her shield while Nora struck him square in the temple with her weapon's hammer form. He went flying and hit the ground with a loud bang, his body tearing up some of the floor's tiles before he planted his hand firmly on them and stopped himself from sliding any farther.

Before he could recover Ren, Pyrrha, Yang and Blake all together unloaded on them with their weapon's gun attachments, spraying him with bullets and rounds that struck him dead square in the chest.

"That won't work peasants!" he snarled as he shrugged them all off and spun his scythe out in front of him, deflecting the rest of their rounds before charging at them once again.

Pyrrha converted Miló into its javelin form and chucked it right at his head, but to their surprise he ducked out of the way so quickly he seemed like a blur and was in an instant right on top of them. He back-handed Ren away, kicked out at Blake and only hit one of her shadow clones, swung his scythe firmly down onto Yang's gauntlets and than finally reached out with his one free hand to swing at Pyrrha.

Jaune appeared and swung at his wrist with Crocea Mors, attempting to cut his hand off and prevent him from punching her, but to his surprise his hand literally _rotated_ 180 degrees and caught the blade, gripping it tightly as he glared right at him.

"Nice try boy." he said with a sneer before he spun his hand around, wrenching the sword out from Jaune's hand and throwing it to the side.

Pyrrha recovered from the initial shock of his assault and planted her shield's edge into his throat, knocking the wind out of him and allowing Blake and Ren to plant their heels into his face and send him flying back once again. Weiss channeled her Dust into her base and formed a sword of ice from thin air, bringing it down onto Jack and smashing him into the ground and creating a medium sized impact crater and at the same time getting him to let go of his scythe.

"Nora!" shouted Yang as she cocked her left gauntlet and leaped up into the air, bringing her fist back while Nora gripped Magnhild with both hands and raised it high over her head.

"Smash!" she exclaimed gleefully as she, quite literally, brought down the hammer onto Jack alongside Yang, their attacks pummeling him and sending his body a down a foot into the ground.

For extra effect Nora pulled the trigger implanted into her weapon's shaft and detonated a shell at point blank range, sending him another couple of feet into the floor.

"Nice!" said Jaune after retrieving his sword, Yang and Nora retreating back and waiting for Jack to stir.

"Don't get your hopes up." said Yang with a scowl, the students confused as to what she meant before they heard laughter rising up from the crater.

Jack's hand first appeared, following by the rest of his body as he pulled himself up out of the floor and stood hunched over with his scythe still in his right hand. His arm though hung limp at its side, seemingly broken and unusable.

"Wonderful! Simple wonderful!' he exclaimed as he popped his neck once again and used his free hand to reconnect his arm back into the shoulder socket, rolling his shoulder around a few times to make sure it was in there properly. "You all have definitely given me a good time. No one else before has ever given me this much trouble, not even your father's team you blonde pest."

"How can he still be standing after that?" asked Weiss in slight shock as Jack twisted his back a couple of times, his spine snapping back into place.

"I cannot be killed. I am death itself, even Grimm fear my existence." he stated plainly with a grin as he placed his scythe on his shoulder once again, the students tensing up and waiting for him to attack again.

"No one's immortal." said Pyrrha, Jack responding with a bout of maniacal laughter.

"Tell that to the blonde's father when I killed Summer Rose with only one arm, several stab wounds and a broken leg." he said coldly, Yang snarling. "And from what I can tell right now, with what you all have done to me tonight, I would've had my jaw broken three times over, a broken neck, my spine disconnected two times and broken in several places, my entire left arm shattered from fingers to shoulder, all of my ribs shattered and severe blood loss as a result of several gunshot wounds and most of my internal organs getting punctured by bone fragments."

The students were left with a sick feeling in their stomachs at the thought of such injuries on a normal human being before Jack sneered once again and got into his combat stance, gripping his scythe tightly as he glared straight at Yang.

"And I haven't even used my Aura _once_. Seeing you all try to kill me is what makes this game so much fun! Please, entertain me more!" said Jack happily before in the blink of an eye, he was once again bearing down on them with an insane gleam in his eyes.

 **\- Lecture Hall A12 -**

 **\- 9:30 p.m -**

Ruby sat in silence, the tears finally having dried up a few minutes ago, but yet she still felt overwhelming sadness and sorrow in her heart. The terror and fear Jack had instilled into her remaining as well, casting a dark cloud over her mind that paralyzed her from head to toe.

" _I can't beat him...I can't! He's too powerful...and he...and he…_ "  
All of a sudden several knocks echoed out from the door above, Ruby freezing as she crunched up tighter, trying to be as small as possible in the fear that Jack had returned for her.

A few seconds passed as the door opened, a couple of footsteps sounding out before they stopped. Someone was definitely in the Lecture Hall now, but she had no idea who.

"Ruby?"

She raised her head up and her eyes widened, the sound of voice a ray of sunshine in the darkness that had consumed her soul. Slowly she brought herself up, turning around and glancing over her shoulder at the figure standing before the entrance to the room.  
"U-Uncle Qrow?" she asked in almost a whisper, the beloved UNcle of both her and Yang looking down at her and smiling warmly.

"Hey there Kiddo." he asked as he walked down the steps and reached the bottom floor.

In the blink of an eye Ruby was pressed up against his chest and hugging him tightly, Qrow gasping slightly before he wrapped his arms around her and returned the hug. They stood there in silence for a few moments before he managed to pry Ruby off of him and kneel down beside her when she fell onto her knees.

"You doing okay?" he asked as he removed her hood to get a better look at her, Ruby lowering her gaze and growing silent. "Tell me what happened."

"Well...we we're having this halloween party and...and this guy showed up and attacked Ozpin before destroying the power generators operating the lights in the school." she said at first before she started shudder, Qrow placing a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. "W-When we tried to find him, he attack us and me and Yang stayed behind to fight him. He...He…"

"It's Jack, isn't it?" asked Qrow with a concerned look, Ruby slowly nodding.

"I'm sorry Ruby...but what he says is true. He was the one that killed Summer. It was a shock to your father and I, but before we could get revenge he slipped away." he said with a scowl as he clenched his fist, old feelings of animosity towards the murderer once again surfacing.

"He did something to me...I got so afraid. I was terrified, and scared, and-" started Ruby before Qrow softly shushed her, nodding to let her know he understood.

"I know. His Semblance is one that allows him to project the strongest feelings of horror, terror and despair into an individual by making contact with them and staring into their eyes. I know because he did the same thing to me and Taiyang, which is what allowed him to go after Summer."

They sat there in silence, Ruby bringing her knees up and hugging them tightly before she looked down at the floor again and shivered.

"What was it like…? To watch her…die?" she asked with a gulp, Qrow sighing before moved himself over to her and placed an arm around her.

"It was...heart-wrenching to say the least. We both mourned, Taiyang and I, but when _he_ began to laugh as if it were all a game to him...we both went ballistic and nearly tore down the forest and the earth itself while trying to find him." he said, taking a deep breath to calm his inner rage as the memories flowed back into his mind as if the entire event occurred only yesterday. "After that day, when I wasn't teaching at Signal, I channeled every fiber of my being into an effort to track him down and make him pay for killing her."

"In the end, however, he managed to slip into the shadows and never been seen again."

They both turned and watched Ozpin enter the room and close the door behind them, walking slowly down the steps with his cane in hand while being sure not to irritate the hastily patched up wound in his shoulder.

"Ozpin! You're alive?" asked Ruby out of surprise, Qrow smirking as he stood up with her and shook the Headmaster's hand.

"Of course. It takes more than some murderer to get rid of and old dog like me." said Ozpin with a small smile before he looked right at Ruby.

"Listen carefully. You need to go with your uncle and stop Jack once and for all."

"But I can't, me and Yang...we didn't stand a chance…" she started before Ozpin glared at her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Yang and your friends are most likely fighting Jack as we speak. If you two together couldn't bring him down, and you both are extremely powerful fighters, and I'm not saying your friends aren't as well, they're going to need all the help they can get."

"Ozpin's right. Jack is a formidable and ruthless fighter. He won't stop until his enemies are dead on the ground." said Qrow, Ruby lowering her gaze and biting her lip in doubt.

"Ruby."

She looked up at Qrow and he gave her another warm smile, one that told her everything was going to be alright and not to worry. "It's up to us to avenge Summer. It's time that Jack payed for his crimes against our family."

For a few moments she looked doubtful, but slowly a smile spread across her lips and she nodded once, Qrow returning the gesture before he looked at Ozpin and asked, "Are you coming with us?"

"I might as well. Let's be off, time is of the essence." he replied, the three quickly making their way out of the Lecture Hall and going towards the far off sounds of battle taking place at the other side of the school.

It took them around ten minutes to get close to the sounds, and as soon as they turned a corner they were met by a gut-wrenching sight.

"Weiss, Blake!" shouted Ruby as she ran to her teammates, her were lying on the ground motionless besides her other friends.

"Ruby…?" asked Weiss before coughing vigorously, Ruby falling to her knees beside her and holding her head up and pressing a hand firmly to the stab wound in her side.

"Ozpin, we need to get these students to safety now!" said Qrow as he quickly grabbed Pyrrha and Nora, who were both bleeding heavily from stab wounds in their sides, Ozpin dropping his cane and grabbing Jaune.

"Where's Yang?!" asked RUby frantically as she finally managed to stem the flow of blood coming from Weiss's side, the heiress blinking a few times.

"She's still fighting Jack...she...she baited him into following her…"

"To where?"

"The Amphitheater…" said Blake as she wiped some blood away from her lip and shuffled over to them. "Go, Ruby, we'll be fine."  
"She's right. I'll stay here with them, you and Qrow go and finish what they started." said Ozpin, Ruby nodding as she left Weiss in Blake's care and ran off with Qrow towards the amphitheater. The sounds of explosions grew louder and louder as they got closer to the amphitheater, Ruby taking Crescent Rose and unfolding it out into its scythe form in anticipation for the rematch with Jack.

"Die, girl!" snarled Jack as he slashed at Yang with his scythe, Yang grunting as it cut into her arm and drew blood.

"I'm not giving up yet…!" she said as she landed on the floor and stuck the ground with both of her firsts, creating a devastating shockwave that knocked Jack off his feet and propelled him into the air.

She rushed him and sent a fist right into his jaw, sending him right back down at the ground and creating another crater.  
"Why won't you just die already!" she said with a grunt after every punch and shell she shot into his gut, Jack's laughter growing louder and louder in excitement.

Before Yang could hit him with another blast he shot his hand out and grasped her throat tightly, knocking the wind out of her and rendering her incapable of striking back. He stood up to his full height and grinned madly as he began to choke the life out of her, his grip tightening with each passing second.

"Go to sleep, child…" cooed Jack evilly as Yang's muscles began to slacken and she began to dip into darkness.

All of a sudden a red blur appeared out of nowhere and Jack's eyes went wide in shock when a huge gash appeared in his arm, cutting clean through and severing the limb from the elbow down. His hand's grip on Yang's throat immediately loosened and before she hit the ground a grey and red blur snatched her away and retreated to the far side of the Amphitheater, hiding in the shadows so as to hide their location from Jack.

Yang coughed a few times and rubbed her throat before opening her eyes, gasping when she saw that her savior was none other then Qrow.

"Uncle Qrow! What are you doing here?!" she sputtered before he shushed her and hugged her tightly, wiping the blood away from her lips afterwards.

"Shh, Jack might hear you. And we're here to help." he replied, Yang raising an eyebrow in confusion before Ruby appeared beside him and grinned.

"Hey Yang. You just rest here, it's our turn now." she said, Yang saying nothing as she embraced Ruby tightly.

"Alright Sis, too much! You're squeezing…too hard…!" she said through gasps, Yang giggling as she released her and let out a sigh of relief at the return of her sister.

"Thanks." she said before wincing in pain and clutching her side.

"Are you okay?" asked Qrow out of concern, Yang waving him off as she stood up slowly and wheezed.

"Just a couple of broken ribs, nothing that can't be fixed later." she said before she reloaded her gauntlets and loaded them, her grin growing. "So are we gonna go finish off this guy or just stand here?"

"Are you sure you can still fight?" asked Ruby, Yang looking at her with an eyebrow raised.

"Please, you do realize who you're talking to right?"

"You heard your sister Ruby, let's do this." said Qrow with a grin as he grasped his weapon and began to walk towards Jack's last known location side by side with his nieces.

While they had allowed time for Yang to recover Jack had been fuming and trying frantically to locate his enemies in the darkness, grasping his scythe tightly with his remaining hand while his severed arm sat uselessly beside him.

"Show yourselves! I can smell your _fear_!" he spat into the darkness.

"Long time, no see...Chester."

Jack's eyes widened when the voice used his real name and he swiftly turned towards the direction it come from, snarling and baring his teeth when he watched Yang and Ruby emerge from the shadows, Qrow standing between them with a scowl on his face.

"You…" he said, his lips curling up into a smile to match the cuts in his cheeks. "This just got more exciting."

"I'm going to finish what Summer started all those years ago. This time…" said Qrow darkly as he pointed his sword's tip straight at Jack, his face stone cold. "It's _you_ who's going to die."

Jack stood there motionless, his eyes going back and forth between Qrow and his weapon before he finally burst out laughing once again, his insane cackling sending chills down Ruby's spine. He cocked his head to the right and glared at them, continuing to snicker as he did.

"That was a funny joke...I mean it, truly a gut-buster! However...that won't be the case." he said before locking eyes with Ruby as he stabbed his scythe's tip into the ground and proceeded to shed his jacket.

He tossed it aside and removed his hat, throwing that away too and snapping his neck. All of a sudden sharp metal spikes sprouted from his back, emerging from his spinal cord and giving him a more fearsome look. Several clicks resonated out from his jaw as to their horror he _unhinged_ his jaw bone from his skull and opened his mouth twice as wide as a normal human's could, revealing a sharp row of metallic teeth extending out from his original set and a second pair of smaller teeth surgically attached to the inside of his gums past the first row.

"Oh god…" said Yang in disgust as Jack grabbed his scythe once again and grinned at their horrified expressions.

"I will enjoy tearing you limb from limb. And Ruby?" he asked, Ruby growling when he addressed her. "I wonder if you'll put up more of a fight then your worthless mother."

In that second both Yang and Ruby unloaded on him with rounds from their respective weapons, Jack ducking side to side as he charged them to avoid getting struck. Ruby had to reload her scythe with a new ammunition clip, the new magazine bearing a black cross emblem, looked down her scythe's sight and fired.

All Jack saw was the black muzzle flash and in an instant he felt his chest tighten up when one of Ruby's modified Black Cross Bullets struck him dead square in the chest and flew right out his back, leaving a scorching hole through one of the devices implanted into his heart.

He coughed and wheezed, losing momentum in his sprint and leaving him open to attack from Yang and Qrow.

"Go!" shouted Ruby, Yang and Qrow charging forward and attacking Jack in his weakened state.

He held up his scythe to block a downward swing from Qrow, but Yang followed up with a severe punch to the face that knocked him back several meters.

"I will not be bested by a bunch of animals!" snarled Jack as he stood back up and was immediately surrounded by dark red flames, his Aura coming into full effect to heal the gunshot wound caused by Ruby among other injuries.

"Ruby, Yang, hammer him!" said Qrow before he engaged Jack with his sword, their metals clashing against one another while Ruby and Yang continued to fire at them with their weapons.

Jack's Aura however was going into overdrive, healing every gunshot wound with a hiss as he deflected every single one of Qrow's slashes and stabs.  
Ruby reloaded her scythe with normal ammunition and looked at Yang, more specifically her hair.

" _Oh this is going to be one stupid idea…_ " she thought before she got Yang's attention and made a cutting motion with her fingers, pointing at her hair.

"Ruby, no. You can't be serious."

All of a sudden Jack kicked back Qrow with a furious yell and as he flew by her his sword caught one piece of her hair and cut it, Yang's eyes widening as she watched it drift slowly towards the ground. Jack sneered as Qrow coughed when he struck the Amphitheater's far wall, his gaze redirecting to Ruby and Yang.

Bad mistake.

Fire exploded around Yang asher eyes glowed bright red and her hair flowed all around her, her anger growing beyond her limits and taking control of her. Jack's expression turned into one of surprise when she rushed at him, a trail of fire forming behind her in her wake. He tried to block the first punch with his scythe but much to his shock it shattered it to pieces, his eyes widening while Yang brought her other fist around and rammed her knuckles into his jaw.

As he was pummeled by her, Qrow walked over to Ruby with a raised eyebrow and confusion written all over his face.

"Did I accidentally cut her hair?" he asked in a whisper, Ruby nodding and grinning.

"You wanted that to happen, didn't you?"

"Yep." replied Ruby, Qrow smiling and holding up a hand and sharing a high-five with her.

By now Jack had been smashed three feet deep into the Amphitheater's wall, and yet Yang still kept battering him and battering him. In mid swing Jack finally managed to bring his hand up and catch her fist, stopping her. Jack's fist tightened around hers and her eyes shifted back to their normal color as he pushed himself out of the wall and glared at her so menacingly he could've burned holes through her.

"That...is… _enough_!" he roared as he tossed Yang up into the air and reared his fist back, ramming it deep into Yang's gut and cracking several more of her ribs and sending her barreling back past Ruby and Qrow. "I've grown tired of this game! It's time I ended you all!"

"Yang!" shouted Ruby as she ran to her sister's side with Qrow, the pair discovering she had been knocked out cold.

They looked at one another and nodded, the two standing up once again and facing Jack dead on. Jack snarled at them once again before he ran at them with his scythe held back, Qrow and Ruby readying themselves for their final confrontation. Jack swung out with his scythe and Ruby blocked it with her own, Qrow lunging with his sword at his gut and frowning when it was nullified by the murderer's Aura.

"Try again!" he laughed as he took a step back and disconnected his scythe into its segmented flail form and leaped into the air, spinning his blade violently around him.

Qrow and Ruby pressed their attack and deflected his blade whenever it got close, Ruby firing one of her shells behind her to shoot past Jack's defense and following with a swipe at him. Jack braced for impact and let his Aura take the full force of the strike, his body getting flung backwards by it. Qrow appeared behind him and planted his foot into his back, a loud crack echoing out when he broke Jack's Aura and snapped his spine once again.

"Ruby, now!" he yelled, Ruby swinging her scythe around and taking aim at Jack's shoulder joints after loading in another Black Cross ammunition clip.  
She quickly fired off four successive shots, Jack grunting as each shot penetrated his skin and left scorching holes through his shoulder blade and chest.

" _No...I will not accept...defeat…!_ " he thought before Qrow followed him down towards the ground and brought his sword high over his head.

He swung down furiously and cut off Jack's other arm before driving his knee deep into his back and smashed Jack down into the floor with a deafening boom, a plume of dust and broken tiles shooting outwards from impact. Ruby landed on the floor and planted the tip of her scythe into the ground, waiting for the dust to clear.

When it dispersed Qrow emerged from overtop Jack and leaped back to stand next to Ruby, smirking as Jack coughed and wheezed vigorously, climbing up onto his knees and sitting there with his eyes glued on them.

"You...No matter where you go...where you hide...I will hunt you down! Cut me down and I'll get back up. You can break me, burn me, _bury_ me alive...but as long as I breath you will never be safe! I _swear_ it!" he snarled, both Ruby and Qrow holding rigid expressions at his threats.

"Ruby...end it." said Qrow while placing a hand on her shoulder, Ruby closing her eyes as she raised up her scythe's rifle barrel and aimed it straight at Jack.

"I'm sorry…I-I can't…" she stuttered, her finger beginning to shake an inch away from the trigger while Jack sneering at her.

"That's right girl...you're spineless just like your bitch of a mother!" he spat with a sinister laugh, Qrow scowling at him while tears emerged from the corner of her eyes.

A black muzzle flash. The whistle. Then the sound of metal piercing flesh as the bullet fired from Crescent Rose flew straight and true...right through the monocle Jack wore over his right eye and then out through the back of his head.

His head rolled back and his visible eye curled back into the back of his eye socket before his body hit the ground with a thump. He didn't move anymore after that. His lips however were still plastered upwards in the same, horrific smile.

Ruby let out a light whimper before she dropped her weapon and started to shudder violently, Qrow doing the same so he could embrace and comfort her.

"It's okay...it's okay…" he whispered into her ear.

She had no qualms in killing Grimm. They threatened humanity and she was training to be a Huntress, a warrior trained to kill Grimm on the spot. But this had been the first time she had ever injured, let alone *killed an actual human being, meaning in that instant between her pulling the trigger and the bullet leaving Jack's head she had lost her innocence, her purity.

"Ruby? Qrow?"

Qrow looked up and watched as Ozpin entered the Amphitheater with a contingent of police officers from the Vale Police Department, the armed men quickly surrounding Jack's lifeless body to make sure that it *stayed dead.

"Are you two alright?" asked Ozpin as she came up beside them, Qrow nodding once before he ran a hand through Ruby's hair.

"Yes, Ozpin...everything's okay."

A few minutes later Qrow was sitting beside Ruby on the bed of an ambulance, the latter having been taken away by one previously to be treated for her more serious wounds.

"Yang's gonna be okay, right?" asked Ruby, Qrow patting her shoulder a couple of times and grinning.

"Yang's gonna be fine. She's a tough girl." he replied, Ruby nodding once before she smiled softly and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Hey, Ruby!"

"Guys!" she exclaimed happily as Blake and Weiss walked over to her, the latter gingerly holding a hand up to her bandaged side since she had been hurt pretty badly.

"I heard what happened. I can't believe you beat him." said Blake with a grin, Ruby lowering her gaze for a few before she pointed a thumb to Qrow.

"Well, it wasn't just me. Yang helped out alot, and so did my uncle here."

"Oh so that's your uncle?" asked Weiss, Qrow smiling softly as he stepped down onto the ground and dusted himself off.

"Hello girls. Sorry, I would like to stay and chat, but I need to get back to Signal. See you later Ruby." said Qrow with a slight bow before he grabbed his sword and walked off.

"Are the others okay too?" asked Ruby when she hopped off the Ambulance bed and walked beside her teammates on their way back towards the school.

"Yeah, we all took a beating, but if it hadn't been for Yang drawing him away he probably would've killed us." said Weiss before she winced slightly at the pain in her side.

"And Yang told us what Jack did. We're sorry Ruby." said Blake with a glance down at her, Ruby sighing and closing her eyes.

"Thanks...but I feel better now knowing that the person that did it is gone for good." she replied before they made it to the area where there friends were being treated at and gathered around them, bringing smiles to their faces after the particular scary night they had all endured.

Back in the amphitheater the police had left to retrieve a body bag for Jack's corpse, leaving it alone in the dark room. All of a sudden clapping was heard from the top row of seats hidden by shadow, and as soon as it stopped a figure emerged with his hands held behind his back.

He stepped off the ledge and landed without a sound on the ground, taking very long strides with his lanky legs towards the murderer's corpse. In the limited lighting given by a couple of propped up lamps it was revealed that he was a very, _very_ tall and pale individual with slicked back bleached white hair that reached the base of his neck. His face was hidden behind what seemed to be an orange mask sporting a wicked smile from cheekbone to cheekbone much like a Jack O' Lantern, and from within the eye holes glowed two distinct yellow eyes.

His upper body was hidden behind a connected jacket with three buttons on either side and the collars flipped, revealing an orange interior the same as his mask. The jacket's end sports a split cape that extends down to his feet and underneath it he wore a white buttoned up shirt with a small collar and a black bow tie. Covering his hair on top was a hat with a large brim, reminiscent of a pilgrims hat with the belt buckle strap around its base and several multi-colored beads hanging from its rim. Covering his hands were a pair of white magicians gloves and strapped around all five fingers of his left hand were metallic finger claws, sharpened to a deadly point, and covering his legs was a pair of black pants with multiple white lines extending down their entire length.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk...such a waste." the figure said to himself in a deep tone as he dropped down onto one knee beside Jack's body and used the clawed middle finger of his left hand to close his one visible eye. Do not worry, however, for I have come for you."

The masked figured placed his arms underneath Jack's corpse and lifted him up with relative ease, walking towards the exit while chuckling.

"Do not worry, Jack the Ripper...everything will be okay. I will put you back together again...just like all the others."


End file.
